A Kingsville man who owned restaurants in Baltimore and Anne Arundel counties was sentenced to four months in federal prison Thursday followed by four months' home detention after pleading guilty to the "harboring of unlawful aliens for financial gain."

George Anagnostou, 41, will report for incarceration on Jan. 3, leaving behind his four children, a troubled marriage and an ailing business — having already sold at least two others to pay his bills. He was ordered to forfeit nearly $750,000 in assets to the government earlier this month.

"His perspective that the rules didn't apply to him have led him here today," said Assistant U.S. Attorney Rachel Miller Yasser. He broke the law "continuously for 11 years straight."

Prosecutors pushed for a relatively stiff sentence, given Anagnostou's lack of a criminal history, to send a message to the business community that employing illegal residents will not be tolerated. A fine alone is an inadequate deterrent, Yasser argued, because restaurant owners would simply perform a "cost-benefit analysis" and continue the behavior if it paid off.

"There has to be a higher price for breaking the law," Yasser said, "especially in this case."

Nearly 30 people living in the country illegally were taken into custody for questioning in March, after federal and local authorities raided two of Anagnostou's restaurants — Timbuktu in Hanover and By the Docks in Middle River — along with two of his residential properties. He admitted to housing at least 24 "unauthorized alien employees," according to court records.

Most of the former employees were released after processing, said Ernestine Fobbs, a spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, but still face deportation. Six people who had outstanding deportation orders were held in custody. The raids focused on Anagnostou, Fobbs said, and not the illegal workers.

I've always found the whole prove you're a citizen (or show the proper papers if you are not) before you can work thing sort of repugnant.

I'd say un-American, but we all know that's not true.

jediab

10-29-2010, 06:29 PM

I've always found the whole prove you're a citizen (or show the proper papers if you are not) before you can work thing sort of repugnant.

I'd say un-American, but we all know that's not true.

I would tend to agree with you on that part Feebs, but unfortunatly we have too many government programs and other things that require income tax funding. And that is where the proof of citizenship is important.

FeebMaster

10-29-2010, 09:08 PM

I would tend to agree with you on that part Feebs, but unfortunatly we have too many government programs and other things that require income tax funding. And that is where the proof of citizenship is important.

The ol' "We need bigger government to counteract the problems created by big government" argument.

Truly a classic.

Odysseus

10-29-2010, 09:21 PM

Here is the problem with this. The government's policies discourage hiring US workers because of the regulatory mandates, including wage minimums, taxes, insurance, health care coverage, etc., so this guy hires people who won't require as many compliance costs. This is a classic black market situation, except that the commodity being smuggled is labor. Eliminate those mandates and the labor market will seek its own level and the illegals will no longer be competitive.

Teddy Kennedy

10-31-2010, 04:07 PM

errr uh, until we start showing business owners that we are serious about the consequences of hiring illegals this behaviour will continue. We keep up this kind of action and we'll see illegals self deporting.

Odysseus

10-31-2010, 04:27 PM

errr uh, until we start showing business owners that we are serious about the consequences of hiring illegals this behaviour will continue. We keep up this kind of action and we'll see illegals self deporting.

If we eliminate the government mandates that make hiring illegals attractive, then employers won't resort to hiring them and the ones who are here to work will self-deport. That still leaves the gangs, drug mules, grifters and assorted others who come here looking to prey on Americans, and who will not go without a fight, but it's a fight that has to be had.

BTW, why are you calling yourself Teddy Kennedy? Are you that bad a driver or are you just sympathetic to drunken sexual predators?

Teddy Kennedy

10-31-2010, 04:34 PM

If we eliminate the government mandates that make hiring illegals attractive, then employers won't resort to hiring them and the ones who are here to work will self-deport. That still leaves the gangs, drug mules, grifters and assorted others who come here looking to prey on Americans, and who will not go without a fight, but it's a fight that has to be had.

BTW, why are you calling yourself Teddy Kennedy? Are you that bad a driver or are you just sympathetic to drunken sexual predators?

None of the above. It is all explained in the welcome wagon thread.

I agree that the fight has to be had, I wonder at times if we have the stomach for what the fight entails.
Certainly this administration does not have the stomach, any more than GHWB had the stomach.

If we keep kicking the can down the road we will wake up one day wondering what the hell happened.

Articulate_Ape

10-31-2010, 10:12 PM

None of the above. It is all explained in the welcome wagon thread.

I agree that the fight has to be had, I wonder at times if we have the stomach for what the fight entails.
Certainly this administration does not have the stomach, any more than GHWB had the stomach.

If we keep kicking the can down the road we will wake up one day wondering what the hell happened.